The state policy in the field of legal protection and use of varieties is carried out in the Republic of Moldova by the following authorities:

• State Agency on Intellectual Property (hereinafter referred to as AGEPI);
• State Commission for Variety Testing of the Republic of Moldova (hereafter referred to as the State Commission);

AGEPI is the national office in the field of protection of intellectual property and is the only authority of the Republic of Moldova which grants legal protection to new varieties of plants.

AGEPI shall receive variety patent applications, carry out the examination of applications, their official publication in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property of the Republic of Moldova, shall grant and issue plant variety patents, and shall keep the Register of Patent Applications and the Register of Plant Variety Patents.

The State Commission is the authority which carries out the testing of plant varieties in its variety testing centers, experimental stations, specialized institutions and laboratories applying methodologies and within the time limits prescribed by international standards, in order to determine their compliance with the conditions of patentability, namely distinctness, uniformity and stability, and also the testing of varieties in order to determine their agronomical value.

The State Commission shall keep the Register of Plant Varieties, which can be accessed on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry: http://www.maia.gov.md.